Kanye West during his Yeezy Season 3 Collection presentation and listening party for the "Life of Pablo" album Thursday during New York Fashion Week.
REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
Kanye West played his new album, "The Life of Pablo," for the first time Thursday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Instead of standing on stage, West chose to emcee, standing in a crowd of his friends while models stood on raised platforms.

The performance was streamed around the world to theatres and on Tidal, the music-streaming service owned by rapper Jay Z.

West had been hyping the show, which he also used to show off his new fashion line, over the past week, and fans were eager to hear what, exactly, he had come up with.

The songs feature numerous guest artists including Rihanna, Future, and Chance the Rapper, with a distinctly soul-like vibe, albeit with a lot of cursing and derogatory language.

Toward the end of "Famous," a song he made with Rihanna that mentions Taylor Swift, West received an email alert that "dinged" with the unmistakable sound that Apple's Mac computers make.

Models presenting at Kanye West's Yeezy Season 3 Collection presentation and listening party for the "Life of Pablo" album.
REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

"As the song concluded, the laptop playing the album received an email, sending the distinctive Apple ping reverberating through Madison Square Garden," The New York Times wrote in a live blog of the event.

The crowd laughed, but West brushed off the noise and continued showing off his new works.

The crowd liked it and started chanting his name, to which he replied, "What you say?"

West also thanked Adidas, which he collaborates with on his Yeezy line of clothing, for "paying for all of this." The new clothes, which follow on from a previous collection released late last year, were modelled by Ian Connor and Naomi Campbell, among others.

The future of his clothing also came up when West, unprompted, said he would like to be the creative director of Hermès, the high-end fashion brand.

"To be creative director of Hermès was a dream of mine," he said, according to The New York Times. "I just want to bring as much beauty to the world as possible."